Lamp bulb package



Sept. 28, 1954 R. T. WHITE LAMP BULB PACKAGE 2 Sheets-Sheet l FiledSept. 22. '1949 FIG'. 2

BY M -lymww Sept. 28, 1954 R. T. WHITE 2,690,254

LAMP BULB PACKAGE Filed sept. 22. 1949 2 sheets-sheet 2 hun \ylm y] sA\\ ,I I ,\\l

INVENTOR. EAK 7.' vWl/ E v und @1/ufl@ Patented Sept. 28, 1954 if., EHC

LAMP BULB PACKAGE Ray T. White, Rocky River, Ohio, assignor to TheHankins Container Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of OhioApplication September 22, 1949, Serial No. 117,104

(Cl. G-65) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to packages or containers of the type used forprotectively encasing fragile articles and more particularlyto packagesor containers adapted to receive a plurality of conventional electriclamp bulbs in nested relation to each other.

My present invention contemplates a wrapper or package of corrugatedpaper of the general type described and claimed in my copendingapplication Serial No. 19,507, filed on April '7, 1948, now Patent No.2,654,472, dated October 6, 1953, and which is formed into the shape ofa tube of suflicient internal dimensions snugly to receive theparticular lamp bulbs to be packaged. Cross-reference is accordinglyhereby made to said corresponding application, By providing my presentpackage with imperforate side Walls and an additional partition wall todivide the tube internally, I have found that the lamp bulbs may benested together within the tube without danger of breakage thereof. .lhave found further, that additional safety in so packaging lamp bulbsmay be attained by providing the partition wall with dimensionssubstantially the same as the internal dimensions of the tube so aspositively to prevent any deleterious contacts between the bulbs.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a lamp bulb packagethat may be fabricated economically and which will effectively house andcontain a plurality of lamp bulbs without danger of bulb breakage. Otherobjects of my invention are: the provision of a lamp bulb package thatoccupies a minimum of space by permitting the bulbs to be receivedtherein in nested or overlapped relation thereby effecting substantialsavings in required shipping and storage space; the provision of a lampbulb package which has an internally disposed partition Wall forprotectively separating lamp bulbs inserted therein and Which insuresthat the pack- .aged bulbs Will not damage each other when subjected tojolts such as may be incurred during shipping or while the package isbeing carried by the ultimate user; and the provision of a lamp bulbpackage that is small and easy to handle and therefore a convenient andattractive means in which to market lamp bulbs.

These and other objects of my invention Will appear from the followingdescription of a preferred form thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan View of the corrugated' paper lblank from which mypackage is formed, only a portion of the corrugations being shown tosimplify the drawing;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a package or Wrapper made from theblank shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical cross sectional view of my assembledpackage taken substantially on line 3 3 of Figure 4, a pair of bulbsbeing shown in the package;

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical cross sectional vieW of my improvedpackage taken substantially on the line 4 4 of Figure 3, the bulbs beingremoved;

Figure 5 is similar to Figure 4 with the section taken substantially onthe line 5 5 of Figure 3, the bulbs being removed; and

Figure 6 is a partially cut-away perspective view showing a pair of mytwo-bulb packages disposed within an outside cover to form a convenientfour-fbulb package.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to Figure 1, referencecharacter I designates generally the blank of single-faced corrugatedpaper or board from which my lamp bulb package is formed. These blanks Imay be cut from large sheets or long strips of suitable corrugatedmaterial which, as shown, is made up of a backing sheet =wa1l 2 (seeFigure 3) and a corrugated Wall 3 having a series of corrugations 4formed therein. The blank I is provided with a plurality of score orfold lines 6 and E' extending transversely of and preferablyperpendicularly to the corrugations l thereon and formed by scoring orflattening the corrugations of the corrugated wall portion 3. These foldlines t, for simplicity of illustration, are indicated by dotted linesin the portion of Figure 1 from Which the corrugations have beenomitted. In the preferred form of my package, the blank I is providedwith three substantially parallel and uniformly spaced fold lines 6 anda fourth parallel and uniformly spaced but shorter fold line 6. Thesefold lines divide the blank into four substantially identical panels l,8, 9 and lo and a partition wall or panel II. The free edge of end paneli is indicated at I5 in Figures 1 and 2.

Partition wall I i is partially severed from adjacent panel iil asindicated by the slot I2 which has been cut on an extension of the foldline 6 between panel Iii and Wall Ii. The slot I2 partially separatespartition wall II from the rest of the blank so that said partition wallhas a free portion I3, dened by the length of slot I2 and which may befiexed out of the plane of the blank, and an anchored portion Ill whichis integral with the rest of the blank and attached to panel It alongfold line 6. The length of slot I2, and consequently the length of freeportion I3 of partition Wall II, is important in determining the sizeand shape of the bulb receiving compartments Il and I8 of my assembledpackage as will be described more fully later.

The above described blank I may be readily converted into a bulb packageor container of the form shown in Figure 2 by folding adjacent panels 8,9 and IIJ on their common fold lines with the corrugations 4 on theinside and so that each panel is perpendicular to the other and becomesan outer Wall of the package. Thus, as viewed in Figure 2, panel lbecomes the outer top wall, panel 8 the left side wall, panel 9 thebottom wall, and panel IQ the right side wall of the package. It will beunderstood, however, that the above named relative positions of thewalls are merely descriptive of the box in the position illustrated inFigure 2.

Prior to folding the respective panels to form a box as shown in Figure2, partition wall II is folded upwardly, as viewed in Figure 1, onfoldline 6 and perpendicularly to panel IB. As the panels 1, t, 9 and Illare folded inwardly and as panel 'I is brought around to form the topouter wall of the box it is made to overlap the partition wall I I sothat the corrugations Il of panel I are adjacent the backing wallportion 2 of partition wall II. Thereafter the free edge I5 of top wall'I is secured to the outer side wall Ill by tape It or other suitableadhesive means. The outer walls l, 8, 9 and It of my package areimperforate and, being folded upon each other at substantially rightangles, are mutually self-supporting and sufficiently rigid to retainthe form of an elongated open-ended box having a substantially squarecross section.

When the package has been folded and edge I5 secured as described above,the partition wall II is adjacent the top wall l of the package and thefree portion I3 of partition wall II may be flexed, inwardly while theanchored portion I4 will remain substantially parallel and adjacent tothe top wall 'I. The free portion I3 of the partition wall II, whenpositioned as seen in Figures 2 and 3, divides the interior of thepackage into compartments I'I and I8 which are adapted protectively andsnugly to receive lamp bulbs I9 and 2t, respectively.

` The length of slot I2 and consequently the length of free portion I3of partition wall II preferably should be greater than one-half of thelength of the adjacent panel It. The reason for this will be seen bynoting, see Figure 3, that the bulbs I9 and 2t are positioned within thepackage in overlapped or nested relation in order to occupy as littlespace as possible within the package and it is advantageous for thepartition wall I I completely to prevent any contact between the bulbs.The maximum length of slot I2 is limited only by the requirement forsufcient length of fold line 6 so that the anchored portion III ofpartition wall II will fbe adequately attached to side wall Iii. I havefound that a satisfactory length for slot I2 is approximatelythree-quarters of the length of partition wall I! although I do not wishto be limited to this length of slot.

As the corrugations Ii run transveresly thereof, the free portion I3 ofpartition wall II is sufficiently iiexible so that the bulbs I9 and 2Bmay be inserted through the ends of the package with their threaded endsfacing inwardly (as shown in Figure 3) until the enlarged ends of thebulbs are completely within the tubular package. Since the internaldimensions of the package are such as to snugly receive the enlargedendsA of the particular size of bulb intended to be disposedtherewithin, bulbs I9 and 20 are frictionally retained withincompartments I'I and I8 and are partially locked therein by theengagement of the threaded ends of bulbs I9 and 2B with the corrugatedinner surfaces of outer walls 'I and 9. As is seen in Figure 3,'the`corrugations on the inner side of the free end portion of partition wallII are meshed with the adjacent corrugations on the inner side of thewall 9. This intermeshing is effective in preventing longitudinalmovement of the partition wall II in the assembled package and thusassists in making a strong andrigid unit.

As mentioned albove, partition wall I I has substantially the same widthdimension as the panels 1, 8, 9 and Ill and because of this dimensionalrelation'the free portion I3 of partition wall II extends substantiallyentirely across the interior of the assembled package or tube 'anddivides it into the two compartments Il and I8. Therefore, when thebulbs vI9 and 20 are disposed within the package as shown in Figure 3,said bulbs are completely and protectively separated from each other. Inthis manner I have insured that the packaged lamp bulbs cannot beydamaged by deleterious contact with each other.

When the partition wall I I is in position diagonally across the tube toseparate the interior of the package into two sections or compartmentsas seen in Figure 3, it also serves to stiffen and prevent collapse ordistortion of the outer walls of the square tubularpackage. In thepackageshown in Figures 4 and 5 there is a slight clearance between theside edges of partition wall II and the inner surfaces of the adjacentouter walls 8 and Iii. By providing this small clearance the free end I3of partition wall II will tend todrop downwardly under the influence ofgravity when the package is oriented as shown in Figures 2 to 5. Thisassists in entering the threaded end of bulb 20 into its proper positionin the package. It will ibe understood, however, that in some instancesthe free end portion I3 of partition wall II may be: madev of such widthas frictionally to engage the inner surfaces of the adjacent side wallst and It in which case the partition wall may be moved into position toreceive the bulb 20 either manually or by suitable mechanism and priorto insertion of the bulbs in the package.

In Figure 6 I have shown a pair of my improved lamp bulb packagesdisposed within. an open-sided corrugated box 2l which has end walls 22and 23, a top wall 24, and a bottom wall 25. The outer protective box 2Ie has a lengthwise Vinternal dimension sufficient snugly to receive myimprovedlamp bulb packages. End walls 22 and 23 of thev box 2i close theopeny ends of the lamp Ibulb packages and therefore protect the exposedportions of the lamp bulbs I9 and 20. The drawer-like disposition of my:lamp bulb packages within protectivev box A2I insures that everyportion of the lamp bulb isV adequately shielded and protected and alsoaffords a neat, compact and attractive multiple Abulb package unit fromwhich one double bulb package can be removed while. the other remainsinthey outer box.

Although I have described the 4illustrated embodiment of myinventionwith some degree of particularity, it will be understood thatmodications and .variations'can be made in my. improved 'package without"departing 'from the spirit of my invention. Therefore, I do not wish tobe limited in any manner other than by the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A one piece lamp bulb package comprising a plurality of single facedcorrugated outer walls disposed with their corrugated surfaces inwardand defining an open-ended tube, a pair of lamp bulbs disposed thereinin nested relation with their base ends overlapping each other and withthe longitudinal axis of one bulb intersecting the longitudinal axis ofsaid tube within and adjacent one end of the tube and the longitudinalaxis of the other bulb intersecting the longitudinal axis of said tubeWithin and adjacent the opposite end of the tube, said tube having asubstantially square transverse cross-section, the length of said tubebeing less than twice the length of one of said bulbsby substantiallythe amount of overlap of the base ends of the bulbs, and an integralimperforate ilexible single faced corrugated partition wall havingsubstantially the same dimensions as each of said outer Walls and beingattached for a portion of its length at one end of the tube to thelongitudinal edge of one of said outer walls, and unattached for thebalance of its length, the corrugations on said outer Walls and on saidpartition wall extending transversely of said tube, the attached portionof said partition Wall ibeing juxtaposed to another of said outer Wallsand the unattached portion thereof extending from said outer wallbetween the nested overlapped parts of said bulbs to the Wall oppositesaid another wall, the corrugations at the free end of the unattachedportion of said partition wall meshing with the corrugations on theinner surface of said opposite Wall.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 557,371 Ferguson Mar, 31, 1896 1,670,498 Einson May 22, 19281,737,950 Scotland Dec. 3, 1929 1,740,550 Michelin Dec. 24, 19291,976,403 Kasser Oct. 9, 1934 2,097,757 Deike Nov. 2, 1937 2,130,445Bemiss Sept. 20, 1938 2,197,510 Ringler Apr. 16, 1940 2,225,133 SilverDec. 17, 1940 2,537,151 Mires Jan. 9, 1951 2,569,733 Ringler Oct. 2,1951 2,611,531 Conkle Sept. 23, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Nu nber CountryDate 241,097 Great Britain Oct. 15, 1925 609,848 France May 22, 1926544,958 Great Britain May 5, 1942

